What you need to know before you start felting wool.
What is wool felting?
Felt is a material originally made from wool. Mostly used in cool weather garments and lovely projects, rugs, decorations…ect. It can also be a verb “I felt that!” (little chuckle there) or to felt a project. Felting fibers are such an amazing thing. The fibers themselves have cuticles on the shaft that get caught on the fiber next to it and pull them in closer to the surrounding fibers making its own stable material. They work like little one-way barbs that allow for a tighter hold all the way around the shaft there is not a direction it can not pull from. As you can imagine all the different kinds of wools and fibers out there that all have a different capacity to felt. Bringing us to
What materials will felt?
Felting wool is not just through it in the washer. Especially when you want it to felt.
I will not pretend to know anything about synthetic felt sheets other than anything can be needle felt. (And they are not real fiber and won’t feel the same when worn.) For now, we are discussing wet felting and what makes a good wet felt material.
First let’s talk about fibers that won’t wet felt: (Just a note: you can needle felt any material.)
- Plant fibers – cotton, flax, ramie, ect
- Silk
- Qiviut
- Super wash, and some bleached fibers
- Some wools
Now the things that I have felt:
- Many wools
- Angora
- Alpaca
And then there are things that seem to be between, as in it is possible to felt them, but it is hard to make it happen in the wet felting process. These include:
- Mohair
- Wensleydale
- Some wools
I guess the real point of listing the yes, no’s, and maybe’s is so you will be aware that it is a good idea to check it out for yourself. Don’t just assume that wool will felt.
How do I felt?
Learning what wools you can use for felting is all the difference.
There are two different ways of felting. We are mostly talking about wet felting which takes the right kind of material, but there is also needle felting. You are able to needle felt any fiber. So that does make all the fibers listed above able to felt. After choosing the right material it takes water and a slick maker to do the best job. Most often I use dawn and hot water. That is the easy answer. Just keep in mind, finding the right wool material is important for what your finished piece will be.
How to wear your felt wool masterpiece?
Choose a day to shine that is probably on the cooler side. I would also say as often as possible. I’m sure when you start you won’t be able to stop. Something magic happens when you start wearing your own wool creations. The feeling is subtle and understated. Everyone will tell you how “wool is hot and itchy”, which may or may not be true depending on the fiber you choose. There is a lot left out of that statement like: How a piece will start to conform to you over time. How you may not think much of being so comfortable till you take it off. There is nothing like the feeling of wearing what you have created from the simplest most genuine supplies. And to gift that to someone you love…. Truly heart felt
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